Why does pain happen?

When we experience pain, sometimes it's easy to forget we aren't just feeling it in our bodies. A sprained ankle makes the foot hurt, but the root of that pain is actually from the brain. Pain is simply our brains processing the fact that our bodies have been damaged. Because our brains all process information differently, we all feel pain differently too.
Here are some factors that can increase the amount of pain we feel, how long we feel it or how intense it is:

Stress

Poor mental health

Anxiousness

Worrying

Anger

Poor emotional health

Focusing on the pain

Boredom

Why we feel pain

We already have a good idea of how pain travels through the body. If you burn your finger, the nerves in your finger send a message from the hand up to the brain, making a few stops along the way, and let it know it's been hurt. The brain then gives us the physical sensation of pain.

Gate Control Theory

One idea, called the Gate Control Theory, says we can change how our brains react to pain messages from the body, and sometimes not even receive them. It says that when the nerves start to talk to the brain, they have to pass through "nerve gates" at every stop they make. If these gates are open, we feel pain more easily. If they're closed, we can keep the pain at bay.

Why gates open

Gates can fly open when we get injured. The more severe the injury or harm, the more likely they are to open. But our emotional health is just as important when it comes to opening the gates. Often the worse we feel emotionally, the more intense our pain is. Here are a few mental factors that can let even the most trivial pain fly to the brain.

Stress – A tough day at work could cause a minor injury that doesn't normally even hurt to feel terrible.

Anxiousness – Being nervous about an injury or something else makes it harder for our gates to close and almost impossible to get over our pain.

Depression – Chronic pain can lead to depression, keeping those gates open and making an awful cycle of pain and poor mental health.

Why gates close

With chronic pain, closing the gates can be difficult. But it can be done. Close the gate through:

Self-calming/relaxation

Distraction

Exercise

You may find additional help though:

Medicine – When our knee hurts, pain medication recommended by the doctor can close the gates and curb the pain.

Rubbing – Gently rub where the pain is coming from. If the signal your brain gets from the touch is stronger than the pain signal, it blunts the pain.

Resilience Toolbox

Pain Management

Whether acute or chronic, it can feel as if pain controls you. By learning more about the science of pain, you can learn techniques to train your brain to better manage it – or forget about it completely.

Nutrition

What you eat and how you eat it directly effects your stress levels as well as your overall health. You'll soon make better nutrition choices – at least most of the time! – with meal planning tips, healthier recipes and more mindful eating activities.

Emotional Expression

Humans are hardwired to feel emotions – but whether or how we express these emotions is our choice. To feel healthy emotions, we need to learn how to express our feelings in healthy ways, which will lead to lower stress levels.

An Oasis for the Soul

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